Django Ninja Quickstart on CS 347

Quick Start Part 1: First API

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Install

Add Django Ninja to your project:

uv add django-ninja

Just like uv add "channels[daphne]" did in the Channels tutorial, this records the dependency in pyproject.toml, installs it into .venv, and pins the exact versions in uv.lock. Commit both files.

Django Ninja works with any Django project. The original Quick Start creates a new project and an events app at this point. You don’t: you already have a project, locallibrary_config, and the chat app plays the part of events for the rest of this guide.

Quick Start Part 2: Models & Schemas

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

On this page you’ll give your chat rooms and messages a home in the database, then turn the Room model into a complete CRUD API, and add pagination and filtering. Along the way you’ll see how schemas are generated from your models.

The models

Nothing Ninja-specific here, just regular Django models. The original Quick Start has a single Event model. Your chat needs two: a Room, and the Messages posted in it.

Quick Start Part 3: Auth, Routers & Next Steps

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The rooms API works, but it all lives in one file and anyone can change data. On this page you’ll move the endpoints into the chat app, require login for writes, and let signed-in users post messages that show up in the chat page right away.

Move the endpoints into a router

A Router is a group of endpoints that you mount on the API under a prefix, much like Django’s include(). Each app can own its endpoints and the project just wires them together.